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Title: WEAK LENSING MASS RECONSTRUCTION: FLEXION VERSUS SHEAR

Abstract

Weak gravitational lensing has proven to be a powerful tool to map directly the distribution of dark matter in the universe. The technique, currently used, relies on the accurate measurement of the gravitational shear that corresponds to the first-order distortion of the background galaxy images. More recently, a new technique has been introduced that relies on the accurate measurement of the gravitational flexion that corresponds to the second-order distortion of the background galaxy images. This technique should probe structures on smaller scales than that of shear analysis. The goal of this paper is to compare the ability of shear and flexion to reconstruct the dark matter distribution by taking into account the dispersion in shear and flexion measurements. Our results show that the flexion is less sensitive than shear for constructing the convergence maps on scales that are physically feasible for mapping, meaning that flexion alone should not be used to do convergence map reconstruction, even on small scales.

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universite Paris Diderot, IRFU/SEDI-SAP, Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
  2. Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16, CH-8093 Zurich (Switzerland)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21471255
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 723; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/723/2/1507; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; GALAXIES; MAPS; MASS; NONLUMINOUS MATTER; UNIVERSE; MATTER

Citation Formats

Pires, S, and Amara, A. WEAK LENSING MASS RECONSTRUCTION: FLEXION VERSUS SHEAR. United States: N. p., 2010. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/723/2/1507.
Pires, S, & Amara, A. WEAK LENSING MASS RECONSTRUCTION: FLEXION VERSUS SHEAR. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/723/2/1507
Pires, S, and Amara, A. 2010. "WEAK LENSING MASS RECONSTRUCTION: FLEXION VERSUS SHEAR". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/723/2/1507.
@article{osti_21471255,
title = {WEAK LENSING MASS RECONSTRUCTION: FLEXION VERSUS SHEAR},
author = {Pires, S and Amara, A},
abstractNote = {Weak gravitational lensing has proven to be a powerful tool to map directly the distribution of dark matter in the universe. The technique, currently used, relies on the accurate measurement of the gravitational shear that corresponds to the first-order distortion of the background galaxy images. More recently, a new technique has been introduced that relies on the accurate measurement of the gravitational flexion that corresponds to the second-order distortion of the background galaxy images. This technique should probe structures on smaller scales than that of shear analysis. The goal of this paper is to compare the ability of shear and flexion to reconstruct the dark matter distribution by taking into account the dispersion in shear and flexion measurements. Our results show that the flexion is less sensitive than shear for constructing the convergence maps on scales that are physically feasible for mapping, meaning that flexion alone should not be used to do convergence map reconstruction, even on small scales.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/723/2/1507},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21471255}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 723,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2010},
month = {Wed Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2010}
}